Welcome back to our Building Your Best IEP Goals series where we are reaching the end with our final section on Self-Advocacy related skills. Throughout this series we have explored the wide world of IEP goals category by category, sharing ideas to serve as inspiration for individualized goals, and shown some examples of how base goal ideas can translate into a specific measurable goal for a particular student. 

While there are lots of ways one could categorize different types of IEP goals - and we strongly encourage using categories that work best for you and your students - we have broken things down into 7 different categories for our free IEP Goal Idea banks, which also go deeper into the process of individualizing goals. 

Our final week is focused on Self-Advocacy skills, but you can access parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 or download the idea banks directly! With that quick refresher, let’s chat about the importance of working on self-advocacy skills and how we can craft IEP goals that support our students in pursing the types of self-advocacy that they find most beneficial. 

Knowing and asking for what we want might seem like a relatively simple thought process on the surface, but the reality is that things are often more complicated than that. Some people might have trouble identifying the things they truly want or need or choosing from a wide variety of options. 

Others might struggle with making more open ended decisions about themselves. Others still might be so accustomed to setting aside their own needs that it takes practice just to get back into the habit of self-advocacy. And that’s before we get into figure out strategies for approaching situations where a person might encounter some resistance!

One misconception about self-advocacy is that it is inherently intertwined with independence. While it is certainly important to support independence in situations where a person asks for it, there are also situations where some students may need support with certain components of the self-advocacy process, and recognizing and acting on that is itself another form of self-advocacy! 

A classic example can be choice paralysis. If a person struggles to choose from a wide variety of options, in some cases the most helpful approach might be to practice choosing from a variety of options on their own, but it could also be using a helper to narrow those choices down to a few key ones to make the choosing process easier. 

The crucial thing is reaching a point where individuals can make those choices or work on solving those problems or employ self-regulation methods. The way that we get there need not and should not be the same for every student but rather based on what is the right fit for the student in question. Which is exactly why we customize base goal ideas in the first place! 

As a quick reminder before we dive into goal suggestions and sample individualized goals, here is the broad template we use to individualize goal ideas: 

If you are interested in diving a little deeper into this topic you can find more on individualization cover it more closely in part 1 of this series and go into even more detail in each of our free goal banks! 

Our self-advocacy skills categories attempt to cover the many components that can go into a self-advocacy process. Self-advocacy can take place across virtually any setting or context, so working on our internal process of determining what we want or need then carrying out a plan to meet those needs is often incredibly helpful even if it does not cover a specific type of choice. 

Of course, some students may benefit from working on a specific type of self-advocacy that is highly applicable to their day to day routine and that is a great thing to include when individualizing goals! 

Likewise, some of the distinctions we draw between the categories can be helpful for deciding how we are framing our approach to a particular student’s goals, but they are not set in stone and it is OK to decide that some distinctions aren’t helpful for a given student. The most crucial thing is finding goals that resonate with your students needs and that your student can understand and get behind. 

Self-awareness and self-knowledge are crucial starting points to self-advocacy because we are so much better equipped to serve our own needs when we have a strong understanding of what they are! As we mentioned earlier in this post such a sentiment might feel self-evident, but sometimes it can take a degree of mindfulness to identify what we are truly feeling and connecting it to a need that will help us feel better or more fulfilled. Self-awareness can cover a range of types of inner understanding from personal strengths and challenges to preferences and interests to needs and feelings. 

For disabled students it may also entail an awareness of how their disability may impact their ability to navigate a given situation and what they may need to mitigate potential harm or barriers. People with advanced self-awareness may also develop an understanding of the ripple effects of their actions and how their choices will impact themselves and others going into the future. 

Sample goal ideas and subcategories:

Strengths and Challenges 

• Learn about strengths across a number of categories, settings, and situations (school, at home, in the community)
• Learn about challenges across a number of categories, settings, and situations (school, at home, in the community)
• Learn how these strengths and challenges intersect and can complement

Preferences and Interests 

• Learn about preferences (likes vs. dislikes) across a number of categories, settings, and situations (school, at home, in the community)
• Learn about interests across a number of categories, settings, and situations (school, at home, in the community)

Needs

• Learn about needs (sensory, emotional, social communication, anxiety, etc.) across a number of categories, settings, and situations (school, at home, in the community) and how they may shift across the day and over time
• Identify supports and accommodations that may be beneficial in order to access education, work, and the community (may be based on their IEP goals/504 plan)

Disability Awareness 

• Learn about one’s own disability, characteristics, their unique representation of the disability
• Identify supports and accommodations that may be a good fit
• Learn about other people with the same or similar disability, how they worked toward their goals, and what supports they may have used along the way

Ripple Effects 

• Reflect on how everyone’s actions and varied situations (from high stress to low energy) across the day have an impact on each other
   

Individualizing goal ideas:

Example 1: Strengths and challenges - Learn how these strengths and challenges intersect and can complement 

“By 10/15, with assistance from the instructor, Shelly will create a list of school-related activities and skills she feels confident about and a list of activities and skills she feels less confident about, and identify at least 3 ways she can use her strengths to help mitigate some of those challenges.” 

Example 2: Disability Awareness - Identify supports and accommodations that may be a good fit 

“By 11/1, with support from the instructor, Aaron will identify all settings throughout the school day and week that may require sensory accommodations, as well identify a person to talk to and create a script for when it is necessary to request a sensory accommodation.” 

We have covered different forms of goal setting across different categories, but in the context of self-advocacy goal setting tends to focus around translating specific needs to different types of goals, from IEP goals to short term goals and long term goals for adulthood. Goal-setting can also cover tracking progress! 

Sample goal ideas and subcategories:

Use needs to create goals 

• Learn about, identify, and focus on needs across life skills, academics, self-advocacy, community, communication, social areas
• Pull from list of needs to identify priorities
• Learn about why goals are important, how to use them, and the types of goals

IEP Goals 

• Learn about IEP goals, how they’re used, and what the student’s IEP goals are
• Provide feedback about IEP goals and inform the goal creation process before and during the IEP meeting

Goals for Adulthood/After High School 

• Complete transition assessments and inventories about interests, needs, preferences related to life skills, self-advocacy, community, and independent living 
• Reflect on findings and create goals for after high school
• Review and adjust goals for after high school each year (or more frequently)

Short-term Goals 

• Learn about short-term goals, then create, monitor, and reflect on progress
• Create weekly goals, then monitor and reflect on progress
• Create monthly goals, then monitor and reflect on progress

Long-term Goals 

• Learn about long-term goals, then create, monitor, and reflect on progress
• Create longer-term goals (quarter, semester, annual) goals, then monitor and reflect on progress 

Track Progress 

• Learn about how to track progress, using data systems (self-management too)
• Reflect and evaluate progress and data over time at predetermined time points (related to short-term goal timeline and/or long-term goal timeline)

Individualizing goal ideas:

Example 1: Use needs to create goals - Learn about, identify, and focus on needs across life skills, academics, self-advocacy, community, communication, social areas 

“By 3/1, with assistance from the instructor, Thomas will identify some of his personal needs related to the following contexts: life skills, academics and school work, self-advocacy, and communication. For each need expressed Thomas will identify at least one potential strategy for meeting that need.” 

Example 2: Provide feedback about IEP goals and inform the goal creation process before and during the IEP meeting

“By 12/1, with instructor assistance, Susan will review her existing IEP goals, share her feedback on whether or not those goals continue to be an effective benchmark, and offer suggestions for new or revised goals to implement at the next IEP meeting.” 

Choice making is all about reflection on our needs to choose between a number of different options across the day and across various tasks. It also covers communicating our choices, choosing between competing priorities, and reflecting on the choices we have made. 

Sample goal ideas and subcategories:

Refer to needs, interests, and preferences to make choices 

• Learn about needs, interests, and preferences related to the choice
• Prioritize certain needs over others (self-regulation, coping strategies to support needs)

Choices Across the Day 

• Have more access to opportunities to make choices and use tools to support choice-making (e.g., choice boards, narrowed to more options at a given time)
• Identify and select choices across Choice Time, breaks, mealtimes, selecting clothing, and more

Choices Across Tasks 

• Identify and make choices across tasks and within the steps of a task 
• Learn about options available in when to complete a task, make choice
• Learn about options available in how to complete a task, make choice

Communicate Choices 

• Practice and communicate choice through preferred communication system
• Practice and communicate choice when it is made
• Practice and communicate when changing one’s mind/choices or change in options

Choosing Between Priorities 

• Learn about making choices between options that are both high interest or high need and how to weigh options

Reflect on Choices 

• Identify potential mistakes made (they later wish they picked something else) and how to navigate that experience (pick something different next time, try again)
• Build and grow self-confidence in making choices
• Learn about and try something new

Individualizing goal ideas:

Example 1:Choices across the day - identity and select choices across choice time, breaks, mealtimes, selecting clothing, and more 

“By 10/15, with support from instructor or adult, Tessa will choose from 3 potential school lunch choices in under 5 minutes in at least 80% of days where she is having school lunch.” 

Example 2: Communicate choices - Practice and communicate choice through preferred communication system 

“By 11/1, with at least 1 reminder prompt from instructor or adult per instance, Chris will identify which self-regulation technique he wants to use with his choice board in at least 75% of instances where he expresses a need for a self-regulation break.” 

Decision-making has a fair bit of overlap with choice-making, and the distinction we are drawing in this particular IEP goal bank is that while choices may hone in on picking between some specific options, decision-making is more about deciding what to do in potentially open ended situations in consideration of a bigger picture. In other words we may choose between pizza or a hamburger for our meal and we may make a decision about how often we want to order delivery in the coming week. 

Sample goal ideas and subcategories:

Refer to needs, interests, and preferences to make decisions 

• Learn about needs, interests, and preferences related to the decision
• Prioritize certain needs over others (self-regulation, coping strategies to support needs)

Decision-Making Across the Day 

• Have more access to opportunities to make decisions and use tools to support decision-making (e.g., decision trees, graphic organizers)
• Identify and make decisions across activities, tasks, and schedule

Decision-Making Across Tasks 

• Identify and make decisions across tasks and within the steps of a task 
• Learn about options available in when to complete a task, make decision
• Learn about options available in how to complete a task, make decision

Communicate Decisions 

• Practice and communicate decision through preferred communication system
• Practice and communicate decision when it is made
• Practice and communicate when changing decision 

Steps of Decision-Making 

• Learn about decision to be made and check in with needs
• Use tools (decision tree) to map out the decision-making, next steps, and related consequences
• Incorporate others’ perspectives into decision-making (if involves others)
• Adjust decisions based on new information
• Implement decision and continue next steps 

Reflect on Decisions 

• Identify potential mistakes made and how to navigate that experience
• Build and grow self-confidence in making decisions 

Individualizing goal ideas:

Example 1: Refer to needs, interests, and preferences to make decisions - Prioritize certain needs over others 

“By 11/1, with instructor assistance, Alyssa will rank her list of personal needs in the order of importance that she feels is most accurate and identify self-regulation strategies that prioritize her most important needs while acknowledging some of her less important needs.” 

Example 2: Steps of decision-making - Adjust decisions based on new information 

“By 1/15, in the process of completing an assigned project, Keldon will have an initial check in session with the instructor to determine what the completed project will look like and at least 3 milestone check in sessions where Keldon can reflect on how the project is evolving and decide what if any changes need to be made and why.” 

Problem-solving is another category that has come up in other areas but in this context is referring to overcoming obstacles to meeting one’s own needs across the day and across tasks. Some of the intricacies of problem solving can include how different contexts might impact our chosen solutions and reflecting on how we resolved a given problem and how we might approach it in the future. 

Sample goal ideas and subcategories:

Refer to needs, interests, and preferences  

• Learn about needs, interests, and preferences, and ideal solutions related to the problem
• Prioritize certain needs over others (self-regulation, coping strategies to support needs), take a moment to process as needed

Problem-Solving Across the Day 

• Have more access to opportunities to problem-solve and use tools to support problem-solving (e.g., graphic organizers)
• Identify and solve problems across activities, tasks, and schedule

Problem-Solving Across Tasks 

• Identify and work through problems across tasks and within the steps of a task 
• Learn about small to large obstacles in when to complete a task, resolve problem
• Learn about small to large obstacles in how to complete a task, resolve problem

Steps of Problem-Solving 

• Learn about decision to be made and check in with needs
• Create a list of solutions to the problem (separately and then together, or all together)
• Incorporate others’ perspectives into problem-solving (if involves others)
• Adjust solutions based on new information
• Implement solution and continue next steps

Consider variety of settings and contexts 

• Learn about how problem-solving process and solutions may look different across settings, with different people involved, and with higher stress level

Reflect on Resolution 

• Identify potential mistakes made and how to navigate that experience
• Build and grow self-confidence in problem-solving

Individualizing goal ideas:

Example 1: Steps of problem-solving - Incorporate others’ perspectives into problem-solving 

“By 10/15, with support from the instructor, Ari will participate in at least 3 group activities focused around completing a specific task and will both share his ideas for how to complete the task and incorporate ideas from other students.” 

Example 2: Consider variety of settings and contexts - Learn about how problem-solving process and solutions may look different across settings, with different people involved, and with higher stress levels
 

“By 12/1, with assistance from instructor, Yujin will identify how she will approach asking for a sensory break across the following settings: regular classroom, classroom with substitute teacher, during gym class, in the cafeteria, in the cafeteria with a staff member she has not met, during recess, in an unknown non-school, non-home setting.” 

Self-regulation covers the whole process of internal self-management from understanding and meeting one’s own feelings and needs, employing strategies to meet or cope with needs as they arise, planning ahead to avoid challenging moments, and utilizing breaks. It fits well into the context of self-advocacy goals because it is fundamentally about awareness of one’s own needs, knowing what can help to meet those needs, and taking the necessary steps to do so. 

Sample goal ideas and subcategories:

Refer to needs 

• Learn about needs, sensory needs, and emotions
• Prioritize certain needs over others (self-regulation, coping strategies to support needs), take a moment to process as needed

Coping Strategies 

• Learn about coping strategies and how they can support different needs 
• Learn about what sensory tools are available and how to use them
  Identify and select coping strategies of interest
• Try out selected coping strategies across context (energy levels, regulation states)
• Identify what works and what doesn’t work, adjust as needed
• Practice using coping strategies (in low stress and high stress moments)

Check-In 

• Check in with needs and self-regulation across the day
• Track moments of stress across the day and if and how used coping strategies

Plan Ahead 

• Learn about being proactive and how to plan ahead with coping strategies
• Practice what to do when feeling dysregulated, if in meltdown, and if in shutdown 

Breaks

• Needing a Break
  • Learn about needing a break, what it looks like, and practice using it
  • Practice communication system to use around needing a break
• Break Space
  • Learn about the break space, see it in person, practice walking to it frequently, identify what to do in the break space 
  • Practice communication system to use the break space and use it

Individualizing goal ideas:

Example 1: Refer to needs - Learn about needs, sensory needs, and emotions 

“By 2/1, with support from the instructor, Charlie will create a list of personal needs, sensory needs, and emotions that can feel overwhelming during the school day. For each item on the list, Charlie and instructor will also include a potential strategy for self-regulating when such a challenge arises.” 

Example 2: Check-In - Check in with needs and self-regulation across the day
 

“By 10/31, given the appropriate worksheets and instructor explanation and reminders, Chelsea will complete her emotional check-in journal, in which she will indicate how she is feeling and any strategies she has tried for regulating feelings that cause distress or overwhelm. She will complete at least 90% of entries, consisting of three check-ins per school day starting on 10/1.” 

One common way of describing the broad topic of self-advocacy is to emphasize just how wide a range of activities it covers. Self-care is self-advocacy. Independent living is self-advocacy. Asking for pizza for lunch is self-advocacy. Knowing how you’ll feel if you watch a scary movie and deciding to watch a documentary instead is self-advocacy. 

This subsection of self-advocacy skills is all about the specific process of advocating for oneself in various spaces, from asking for accommodations in the workplace to insisting on being able to live independently. More than just choosing for oneself, these skills are often important to standing up for oneself. 

Sample goal ideas and subcategories:

Self-determination 

• Learn about needs, sensory needs, social emotional needs, and emotions, own self-determination/self-advocacy
• Complete a self-assessment in self-determination/self-advocacy
• Reflect on findings, identify next steps, and create goals

Accommodations

• Learn about accommodations and how they are used
• Identify accommodations used in the student’s IEP

Leading

• Take the lead in a partner/group activity
• Lead a group activity (small group to larger class)

Advocating

• Learn about advocacy and how to self-advocate
• Identify common self-advocacy practices (ask for help, need a break, need/want X, accommodations)

Practicing Self-Advocacy 

• Practice using communication system
• Needing a Break
  • Learn about needing a break, what it looks like 
  • Practice asking for a break (before, during, and after needing one)
• Ask for Help
  • Learn about needing help, different scenarios, what it looks like 
  • Practice asking for help (before, during, and after needing help)
• Accommodations
  • Role play asking for accommodations in the community, across settings
  • Practice asking for accommodations in the community, across settings (CBI)

Individualizing goal ideas:

Example 1: Accommodations - Learn about accommodations and how they are used 

“By 10/15, with instruction and assistance from teacher, Fatima will identify all accommodations to which she is legally entitled across school settings and at future jobs. For each accommodation, Fatima will work with her teacher to create a script that explains her needs and that she is legally entitled to those accommodations.” 

Example 2: Practicing Self-Advocacy - Practice asking for help
 

“By 11/1, working together with the instructor, Joey will establish procedures of communication for asking for help in situations where he needs it as soon as possible, situations where it is not an emergency, and situations where he needs to take a break.” 

While it can feel like a somewhat meta choice to include IEP related goals in a student’s IEP, these can be some of the more valuable skills that a student can learn early on to empower them to shape their education in a way that will help them pursue their life goals. 

The value of such skills is not just limited to IEP meetings either! Students who can get involved in the process early and see how our goals shape what we do day to day can carry those skills forward when they start making plans for the future on their own. IEP skills can include developing goals, learning the ins and outs of IEP meetings, and tracking progress. 

Sample goal ideas and subcategories:

IEP Goals 

• Learn about IEP goals, how they are used, what IEP meetings look like
• Learn about own IEP goals for the year, upcoming IEP meeting date, and what the meeting will look like
• Reflect on own IEP goals, share more information on what is working for them, what they want to learn more about
• Complete surveys, inventories, and self-assessments about goals, skill areas, preferences (likes, dislikes), strengths, challenges, and areas to work on

Participation on the IEP Meeting 

• Preparation
  • Given an agenda and a plan, attend the IEP meeting
  • Prepare a handout, pamphlet, digital presentation (speaking or not speaking), or material to give to IEP team members – that covers preferences, interests, strengths, challenges, areas to work on, after high school, thoughts on goals
  • Learn about the common agenda for the IEP meeting and expectations
  • Use tools to attend the meeting (use agenda, social story)
• Presentation
  • Share handout, pamphlet, digital presentation (speaking or not speaking), or material with IEP team members
  • Present the materials to the IEP team
    Gather feedback on goals
  • Provide feedback on drafted goals and next steps

Tracking Progress on Goals 

• Learn about tracking progress on goals
  Use data system to track progress or self-management
   

Individualizing goal ideas:

Example 1: IEP Goals - Reflect on own IEP goals, share more information on what is working for them, what they want to learn more about 

“By 12/1, with support from instructor upon request, Alan will review all of his current IEP goals, share any questions he may have about any particular goals, identify any goals he does not understand or wishes to change, and identify at least one strategy for pursuing each listed goal.” 

Example 2: Tracking progress on goals - use data system to track progress or self-management
 

“By 3/1, with assistance from the instructor or adult, Tatiana will review all agreed upon base IEP goal ideas and for each goal identify at least one way of quantifiably tracking progress on that goal, as well as a reasonable benchmark to work toward this quarter.” 

Strong individualized Self-Advocacy goals meet students where they are and work to empower them to exercise more autonomy in their own space. This includes both encouraging students to take their own steps to meet their needs when they know how to do so and listening to students when they say they need more support in some contexts. 

If there is a pitfall to practicing self-advocacy skills, it is developing a pre-conceived notion of what self-advocacy is supposed to look like as opposed to honing in on what forms of self-advocacy are most beneficial to the student in question. Much like with our other posts in this series, the more you center the individual for whom you are writing the goals, the more likely you are to be headed in the right direction.
 

With part 7 we are wrapping up our series on individualizing different categories of IEP goal ideas, but we would love to devote more time to the topic of IEPs and always want to hear from our readers the topics they’d like to see us cover more in depth. 

Likewise if you have your own experience you wish to share, questions, feedback, or ideas for totally different topics you’d like to see then we’d love to hear from you! Just drop us a line at hello@autismgrownup.com and in the meantime we wish you the best of luck in creating helpful, individualized, and achievable goals!